Whirlwind Tour and Hands-onDemos of Notable New Features

in Project 2010

Carl Chatfield, PMPPresented to Puget Sound MPUG Chapter

September & October, 2010

Project 2010 is easily the biggest desktop upgrade since Project 2000

Project 2010 introduces the biggest interface change since Project first appeared in Windows

My focus here is on desktop features, not EPM Some new desktop features are in Pro only, not Standard References throughout to specific pages in Tim Johnson’s

and my book, Project 2010 Step by Step and to my blog, www.projhugger.com

Less PowerPoint, more demos!

Before We Get To The Features…

For its 2010 release, Project has adopted the Fluent interface (commonly called the ribbon interface) that was first introduced in some 2007 applications like Word and Excel.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 5 Demo! (plus more on customizing later)

Fluent (“Ribbon”) Interface

Begin creating tasks with whatever information (numeric or text data) you may have, and don’t worry about automatic scheduling of tasks until you’re ready. Manually scheduled tasks are not affected by changes in duration, start or finish dates, dependencies, or other issues that otherwise would cause Project to reschedule a task. You can then switch individual tasks or an entire project plan from manual to automatic scheduling.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 43 Demo!

Manually Scheduled Tasks

Use a drop-down list box directly in the Resource Name field to assign or unassign resources

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 80 Demo!

Assign Resources Directly in a Table

The Timeline view is best suited to display some tasks from the Gantt Chart view in a less complicated format. The Timeline view is especially well suited for conveying quick summaries of project plans

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 101 Projhugger blog: Here Demo! (plus more on customizing later)

Timeline View

Allows you to directly enter a duration value for a summary task that is independent of its calculated duration as determined by its subtasks.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 172 Demo!

Schedule Summary Tasks Manually

You can include tasks in a project plan that you might later decide you don’t want to have completed, but you also don’t want to lose the details about those tasks by deleting them.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 175 Projhugger blog: Here Demo!

Inactivate Tasks (Pro only)

The Task and Resource Usage views are powerful views in which you can accomplish intricate goals, like manually contouring resource assignments. If these views present more details than you want, Project Professional includes a simple but powerful view called the Team Planner view.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 203 Demo!

Team Planner View (Pro Only)

Since the Group column is visible in the Resource Sheet view, you can also click the AutoFilter arrow in the Group column heading, and in the menu that appears, click Group on this field.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 239 Demo!

Group by Group field

Project supports a wide range of custom fields, and you can add a custom field to any table easily. The rightmost column in a table is labeled “Add New Column,” and you can either click the column heading and select any field you wish to add, or you can just start typing in a cell in the Add New Column column.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 251 Demo!

Create Custom Fields Quickly

You may find that the default text formatting of the Timeline meets your needs, but you’re also able to customize its look.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 324 Demo!

Customize the Timeline View

As with other Office applications, you have several choices concerning how to work with Project. Some of the many customization settings include the following: Add frequently used commands to the Quick Access

toolbar. Customize an existing ribbon or create a new ribbon that

includes any commands that you want.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 362 Demo!

Customizing the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar

Project supports copying information out of and pasting information into Project. However because Project information is highly structured, there are a few things to note.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 372 Projhugger blog: Here Demo!

Improved Paste into Word and Excel

with Project Professional 2010 you can synchronize tasks between Project and a new type of list in SharePoint called a Project Tasks list. You can either create the initial task list in Project and then synchronize it to the list in SharePoint, or create the initial task list in SharePoint and then create a new project plan based on the task list.

Project 2010 Step by Step: Page 391 Guided Tour! (via PDF)

Synchronizing Task Lists Between Project and SharePoint (Pro only)